Ed's Review Dot Com

Johnson Production Group, Nomadic Pictures,

Shelley Long, George Wendt, Kassia Warshawski, Lucas Bryant

Alex (Kassia Warshawski) has a son. She has met the nicest guy and is very happy. But Peter (Lucas Bryant) is really into the Christmas thing, and Alex’s family, especially her father, is very anti-Christmas. They’re planning to marry, but Alex really wants to meet Peter’s parents, and they’re very busy with their toy business up north like in Alaska or something. Finally they decide to come down and visit until Christmas Eve, but then the sparks start to fly as the secrets behind the family toy business drives everyone crazy!

This Lifetime Christmas movie is very similar to many others. The thing that makes this one stand out is the fact that Santa and Mrs. Claus are played by George Wendt and Shelley Long. They make one of the best Claus’ that I have ever seen. George is really getting good at playing Santa. The little boy is very charming, and the relationship between Alex and Peter is very well done. Basically, the actors in this film are very good, so the fact that it’s so similar is not so important when it’s very well done. This film is very cute, and a very heartwarming movie, and really brings the Christmas spirit home. I can recommend this now for 2012 Christmas movie premiering in 2012 on Lifetime!

Here is the home page for this Christmas movie at Lifetime.

Production Media Group,

Haylie Duff, Chris Carmack, Connie Selleca, Stephen Colletti

Eve (Haylie Duff) is a party planner who works for the unflinching and selfish boss Elizabeth (Connie Sellecca) who sends her on an assignment in Los Angeles for Christmas for a very critical client. Eve has plans to go to Aspen with her boyfriend, but must decide whether to cancel her plans and take a shot at winning the promotion to run the west coast office, or keep her plans. She makes her choice, but is late to the plane, and may not make the flight. We get to see two alternate realities when Eve either makes the plane, or misses it, in this unique look at how a single event in our lives can bring completely different ends.

This is a strange movie, in it’s construction. Unlike some other films tackling this subject, we watch it unfold in both universes at the same time, switching back and forth between rich Eve and poor Eve every few minutes. If you don’t pay attention and come in after this switch, you’ll be totally lost, but the weird way this is pieced together actually works. Unlike little sister Hillary, Haylie actually is a pretty decent actress and does a pretty good job playing both Eve’s. This is a film about what is important, and how little choice can have a profound effect on who we become. I enjoyed this film, as it was very different, and very well put together. I recommend catching this brand new Christmas film when you can.

Here is the home page for this new Lifetime Christmas film.

CCI Entertainment, Really Real Films,

Elaine Hendrix, Sergio Di Zio, Sean Michael Kyer, Christopher Lloyd, Jessica Harmon, Adrian Holmes

John (Sergio Di Zio) and Grace (Elaine Hendrix) love each other, and her 10 year old son Zachary (Sean Michael Kyer). But there are problems. John absolutely hates Christmas. He despises the holidays, but Grace on the other hand, is a fanatic about Christmas. She loves the holiday to extreme. Grace was hoping John would propose over the holidays, but instead they get into a huge spat, and trying to make it up makes things spin out of control. Both have deep secrets, and unless they can get them out in the open, their relationship is doomed.

This is really a pretty silly movie. They try really hard to pull on the heart strings, but I can’t imagine anyone over 12 buying any of this. The two characters are so hideously unlikeable, and the setup is so extreme. Someone who absolutely hates Christmas must have a really good reason, but this guy has no good reason at all to be like he is, nor should he flip so quickly from hatred of the season to a holly jolly Santa. And Grace is a whiny spineless thing that has no reason to be such a Christmas fanatic. To top it all off, John has an ex that is so over the top, and Grace’s ex is such a cartoon. To try to cram these two together is such a stupid plot device that this should be a cartoon. Truth be told, the Christmas these clowns all spend in the same house (Yes even the two exes) is so incredulous that even the under 12 crowd won’t buy this. But after collecting a whole houseful of misfits, even more show up to add to the chaos. What was Christopher Lloyd thinking to do this movie? This is a new ION TV premier for 2012, and they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel. If this were funny, or even remotely humorous, it might make sense, but as it is, this movie is really a waste of video. There are so many good films for the holidays, don’t waste your time on this clunker!

Here is the home page for this 2012 Christmas film from ION TV.

ARO Entertainment, Synthetic Filmwerx,

Marla Sokoloff, Chris Carmack, Catherine Hicks, David DeLuise, George Wendt, Chelan Simmons

Rebecca (Marla Sokoloff), just lost her job in the city, so she heads home to visit her estranged mother (Catherine Hicks) and to attend her best friends wedding who she also hasn’t seen for 10 years. While attending the wedding, she meets her ex-boyfriend who she left when she went to the big city, and he went to Paris to learn to cook. When they meet sparks fly and it seems they might not be completely over each other. The wise taxi driver (George Wendt) gives her some good advice and makes her keep at it until she gets it right.

Uh oh, another “relive the same day over and over” thing. First of all there was Groundhog Day, but we can rule that out as it wasn’t Christmas, but then we got “Christmas Every Day”, Christmas Do-Over” and now “A Christmas Wedding Date”. But this is a very nice movie. Marla Sokoloff is wonderful in this role, and really nails it. She is able to play all the range of emotions from surprise and wonder to anger and to redemption in under 2 hours and she pulls it off perfectly. The story is really sweet, and I enjoyed this movie a great deal, although I must confess that I also enjoyed all the previous “relive the day” movies as well, so maybe I’m just a sucker for these types of stories, but I felt it was very well done. I recommend this new film for 2012 as one of the better of all the new films.

Here is the home page for this ION TV 2012 Christmas Movie.

Marvista Entertainment,

Shantel VanSanten, Rob Mayes, Nikki Deloach, Orson Bean

In this third outing of the “Golden Christmas” series, Bobby returns from 2 years in the Navy ready to settle down in Belmont Shores. Heather’s dream is to be a director on Broadway…but for now a community theater production of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, must be enough. She’s direction the wonderful Orson Bean as a crotchety Ebenezer Scrooge with a warm heart. He’d like to get Heather and Bobby together, as do lots of other friends, but it’s with the help of 3 golden retrievers that do the lion’s share of getting the two together in this Christmas romance.

I don’t think this is nearly as good as the first two films. First, for the dog lovers, they dogs play a much smaller role in this film. There’s a lot more fighting, misunderstanding, and making up than there are scenes stolen by the dogs. This is a simple little romantic comedy, and it delivers on that level, but the acting is not outstanding, the characters and not that great, and it’s easy to get distracted while attempting to watch this. A typical Christmas romance that fades into the background of all the other Christmas romances. There’s nothing very memorable which is why I just give this film a mediocre rating. Not awful, but not able to make me really care about these characters.

The home page for this ION TV Christmas film for 2012 is here.